THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 12, 1996

Thanksgiving Day,
1996

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

America's oldest tradition, Thanksgiving is also a reaffirmation of
our most deeply held values; a public recognition that, in the words
of Thomas Jefferson, "God who gave us life gave us liberty." In
gratitude for God's gift of freedom and "for all the great and
various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us," George
Washington made Thanksgiving his first proclamation for the new
Nation, and it is one we are privileged to renew each year.

Much has changed for America in the two centuries since that
first Thanksgiving proclamation. Generations of hardworking men
and women have cultivated our soil and worked the land, and today
America's bounty helps feed the world. The promise of freedom
that sustained our founders through the hardships of the Revolution
and the first challenging days of nationhood has become a reality
for millions of immigrants who left their homelands for a new
life on these shores. And the light of that freedom now shines
brightly in many nations that once lived in the shadows of
tyranny and oppression.

But across the years, we still share an unbroken bond with the
men and women who first proclaimed Thanksgiving in our land.
Americans today still cherish the fresh air of freedom, in which
we can raise our families and worship God as we choose without
fear of persecution. We still rejoice in this great land and
in the civil and religious liberty it offers to all. And we
still -- and always -- raise our voices in prayer to God,
thanking Him in humility for the countless blessings He has
bestowed on our Nation and our people.

Let us now, this Thanksgiving Day, reawaken ourselves and our
neighbors and our communities to the genius of our founders in
daring to build the world's first constitutional democracy on the
foundation of trust and thanks to God. Out of our right and
proper rejoicing on Thanksgiving Day, let us give our own thanks
to God and reaffirm our love of family, neighbor, and community.
Each of us can be an instrument of blessing to those we touch this
Thanksgiving Day -- and every day of the year.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by
the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim
Thursday, November 28, 1996, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I
encourage all the people of the United States to assemble in their
homes, places of worship, or community centers to share the
spirit of goodwill and prayer; to express heartfelt gratitude for
the blessings of life; and to reach out in friendship to our
brothers and sisters in the larger family of mankind.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of
November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred
and twenty-first.